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Junior Dos Santos is considered by many to be the 2nd best heavyweight in the world. I happen to think that’s the case as well. In the past year however, he’s taken severe beatings inside the cage form the best heavyweight in the world, Cain Velasquez. After taking a few months off, he seems to eying a return to the octagon later this spring.

According to his coach, Luiz Dorea, Junior is targeting May or June as a possible return date, although nothing is set. Since dropping a rubber match to Velasquez in October, Cigano will have to go back to square one. Another title shot isn’t imminent, so he’ll be forced to fight against other contenders looking to climb back up the ladder.

Dorea thinks Alistair Overeem might be a good option. That matchup “was expected to happen before and didn’t,” Dorea told MMA Fighting. “But they have great fighters in the UFC, so anything can happen. He will fight anyone they want.”

The Overeem fight would be contingent on his defeating Frank Mir at UFC 169, and if it happens could be interesting. Like Dos Santos, Overeem is considered to be one of the best strikers in the heavyweight division. Also like Dos Santos, Overeem has fallen on tough times in the past year. Back to back knockout losses to Antonio Silva and Travis Browne completely derailed Overeem’s goal of capturing the UFC title.

As for Dos Santos, he’s well aware another title shot won’t be happening soon. It will take a string of wins to earn his place in front of the line again. Fresh faces like Fabricio Werdum, Browne are currently higher in the pecking order. But if JDS is still as good as I think he is, we could be seeing Cain/JDS 4 sometime own the road.